In-Plant Mill Supplies Keep Drivers Home

(March 2006) Something good is happening in a quiet corner of almost every Madras plant. New mill supply areas are making it possible for production folks to pick up just what they need, when they need it, and without leaving their plant. Now when they run short on banding, load covers, stretch wrap, or cardboard edge protectors, they find these supplies restocked and ready for use in the exact same in-plant location.

“Before the mill supply area, we had to send a forklift driver over to Purchasing to pick up what we needed,” Mike Damberger, Plant 3 manager, said. “That took time away from production. Also we didn’t have minimum and maximum settings on our mill supplies so we sometimes ran out.”

“The mill supply area is an improvement because we don’t have to order supplies anymore,” Mike said. “Everything we need is in the plant so all we have to do is go and get it.”

The new in-plant mill supply areas are the brainchild of the Continuous Improvement (CI) Group and Purchasing. “We saw an opportunity to reduce waste in the mill supply replenishment process and we pounced on it,” Ken Sanchez, Madras Milling CI manager, said. “Plants were stockpiling inventory, ordering in large quantities, and holding varying levels of safety stock. In terms of carrying costs, product damage, Hyster travel and labor, and search time to find supplies – we are talking quite a bit of savings for Bright Wood.”

Already the participating plants have pulled $27,056 of overstocked mill supplies out of their areas. The new approach has other benefits as well according to Ken: “1) it eliminates the need for Hyster drivers to travel to Purchasing to pick up their plants’ supplies, 2) it ends over-ordering by setting up minimum and maximum quantities that trigger the Purchasing group to supply only what is needed or used, 3) it eliminates wasted time spent searching for supplies (which they can now find in one designated and clearly marked location), and 4) it minimizes product damage by not having to move or shuffle around large quantities of supplies.”

The only department spending more time maintaining the new system is Purchasing, and that is a trade off Troy Towers, manager, said his team is happy to make. “This is a better way to manage mill supply inventory,” Troy said. “Consumption spikes were one of the problems with the old system. Let’s say one plant picked up a four-pack of banding at one time; that’s 48 rolls which could be three or four months of their usage just sitting in the plant. The problem compounded if two or three other plants also picked up large amounts on the same day because the demand spike could run us out of banding. And, what if the first plant’s driver grabbed 3/4” banding when he meant to pick up 5/8” banding? We may have already reordered when he brings it back, and if it is an item we don’t use very often, we may now have double what we need in inventory.”

“The new system does take more of our time in setting up and maintaining all the mill supply areas,” Troy said. “But our costs are offset by the 14 plants who were sending people to pick up mill supplies once or more a week. Overall it is a much better system for Bright Wood.”

“It is a big improvement,” Paul Quinn, Madras Plant 9 manager, said. “By having Purchasing check our mill supply inventories weekly and restocking them, we always have what we need, when we need it in the plant. It eliminates another distraction from production.”

Other Newsletter Articles:

Bright People Donate $11,742 to Central Oregon Charities in December (March 2006)

Bright Wood to Close Bend Facility (Company announcement released February 17, 2006)

Purchasing’s Barb Waite travels to all the Madras plants’ mill supply areas once a week to restock banding, load covers, stretch wrap, edge protectors, etc., whenever inventories dip below preset levels. “It is more work for me, but it keeps forklift drivers in the plants so production doesn’t have to run short handed because their drivers left to pick up supplies,” Barb said. “Everyone has done an awesome job setting up their mill supply areas.”

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